Twitter Developing ‘Subscribe To Conversation’ Feature

Following a back-and-forth tweet conversation on Twitter might be made easier, TechCrunch is reporting. Engineer Jane Manchun Wong, who often looks into popular apps to take note of new features, was the first to tweet out news of an upcoming “Subscribe to Conversation” option. This feature will allow users to receive updates on an ongoing conversation without having to join the conversation themselves or even having to “like” any tweets. Twitter confirmed this option was in the works on their own Twitter account, although they have declined to reveal when the feature will be available.

“This is part of our work to make Twitter more conversational,” they tweeted about the development.

As Engadget points out, this could help users who wish to anonymously follow a conversation. According to TechCrunch, Twitter has been aiming to make the platform less abusive and more inclusive. One way they did this was by changing the icon to “like” a tweet from a star to a heart. With this decision, however, users no longer had a way to keep track of a tweet without automatically seeming like they were endorsing it. To compensate for this, the app created the “Bookmarks” feature that saves tweets without “hearting” them.

Twitter is testing "Subscribe to conversation" so you can get notified over a conversation without liking or replying ???? pic.twitter.com/6hpSQcMJZD

Twitter also recently launched an experimental beta testing app called Twttr. This app is said to have a more indented and color-coded look that gives threads the appearance of a chat room. The platform is also experimenting with an option that allows you to hide a certain tweet or group of tweets from your feed.

In addition, Twitter is toying with the idea of an “Original Tweeter” label to help users pinpoint who specifically started a thread. At the latest SXSW conference, Twitter announced they would be developing a camera that is exclusive to the app, making it easier to share photos and videos. All of these updates are being made in hopes of making the app more accessible.

According to another article from Engadget, Twitter is constantly brainstorming changes that could make the app easier to use. However, they don’t want to reveal everything all at once and overwhelm users.

“We’re making some pretty big changes to the way conversations look and feel on Twitter, and we don’t want to just unveil that one day and what if you don’t like it or it’s not working for you?” said Sara Haider, director of product management at Twitter. “We really want to bring our community along for this journey and be a part of this.”